I find that platform much better and cleaner than this.
Please do update your bookmarks.
Best regards,
Siddharth
Nov 1, 2008
Oct 28, 2008
Happy Diwali
This is to wish all our clients, readers, visitors a very happy Diwali and a prosperous new year ahead. May all of us find peace, prosperity and happiness!
Read more about Diwali
Read more about Diwali
Oct 20, 2008
Outsourcing
Not a direct software example, but this one does show what people can do with outsourcing.
Read this CNN article to get some useful tips on outsourcing and how one company has pretty much outsourced everything.
Read this CNN article to get some useful tips on outsourcing and how one company has pretty much outsourced everything.
InfoBeans team member of the month
We recognize the efforts of our team members every month through a nomination of team member of the month. Check out the presentation below. Feel free to forward to your friends if they are interested in a career at InfoBeans.
Oct 17, 2008
The InfoBeans engagement life cycle - part 2
This is the second part of this post.
So once we go into the development part of a project, we look to validate what we have done and make sure that the quality is within acceptable limits.
The quality measures and the relative emphasis that we lay on are different for different projects and are really a requirement. For some deliverables, sub second response time is extremely critical, while for others, clients are looking to do a lot of number crunching which again is performance optimization. Yet another aspect is the visual appeal. Some web applications lay a lot of emphasis on visual appeal when the users of that application are say, retail consumers. We fator in these requirements are an early stage of development and that is really what it means when we say that QA is involved in the very beginning of the project lifecycle. We like to have our QA team or at least some representation of it, involved in the development process right from the business understanding phase.
Apart from quality testing the application, we also rely on our QA team to be our consultants. We have found that the QA team is extremely useful as a sounding board of ideas and their feedback on various issues, including usability is important to the project. They also have probably the most holistic view of the application and are quick to identify impacts on areas for any changes. I personaly rely a lot on feedback from such quarters. In complex implementations, such feedback becomes critical.
We also have a keen emphasis on just reducing the number of defects created in the first place by the development team. A lot of testing goes into the development at the time of development. We understand that a single defect increases costs a lot and therefore the most more we rein in the number of bugs in the first place, the better off we all will be. You as a client would be better off with lower number of issues and higher turn around time. We as a vendor will be better off with lower costs, lower developer fatigue and higher margins. A true win-win!
A user acceptance testing phase is something that we bank on a great deal to get the final issues ironed out and make sure that we have met expectations of the user who is actually going to be using the system. Many a times, the folks who think about the app, ones who develop it and the ones who actually use it are different people. And different in many senses of the word. Different in capabilities, knowledge spheres and domains. The UAT phase helps us in making sure we have gotten most of the application right and there aren't any surprises to the end users before the application is released to production.
Releasing to production is not the end of our relationship with our clients. It is the start of a new one. We constantly help our clients monitor the health of the implementation and give support proactively. We understand that our task merely moves to the next phase of the project where we have to provide support to our clients after they have implemented the system, rather than the end of an engagement at that point, like many other vendors like to put it.
This two part series tries to shed some light party on the actual engagement lifecycle and partly on the philosophy with which we try to approach the engagement. Please feel free to post any questions or write to me at siddharth.sethi@infobeans.com
Microsoft includes Drupal in its web installer
Check out this page at Microsoft.
Hmm, we are interested in Microsoft and Drupal and SharePoint. Microsoft is inching closer to embracing more open source. This is one more step.
I am not sure what the strategy is here. Anyone?
Oct 14, 2008
Apple releases new MacBook PRO
Was not too interested in the Apple MacBook PRO release but the coverage is so overwhelming, that I was sucked into the frenzy and saw a few blog posts. Those links ultimately took me to the apple home page that had a link to a video regarding the new features of the laptop.
Apple does a great job of marketing these things, however, this time I am disappointed.
My grudge is against the way Apple is touting the unibody aluminium case. I saw their video and the amount of footage that is devoted to that piece of engineering from a consumer's standpoint is just way too much and actually put me off. Sure, it must be a great piece of engineering but what is the point in talking about is so much in a consumer video? Does not make sense.
Another feature, which I can say without trying it out, is the touchpad button feature. Why is that a big deal? You can click on the touchpad already without it being a button - you can tap it.
Apple has been a great innovator and I like the company for it. I am very big proponent of the iPhone, but this time round, I am disappointed!
Oct 13, 2008
New version of Windows to be called....
So the new version of Windows will be called - hold your breath - Windowsssssssss 7.
Um. Oh. Eh?
Yeah, they are naming it just that. Windows 7. And what a surprise!! Really?
You could argue and complain and all of that, but that is what the name is. What is in a name anyway?
Windows 7 it is and that is what it will be. It does sound a good naming convention for MS who would like to get out more releases sooner.
The InfoBeans engagement life cycle
This post is to explain what the typical InfoBeans project engagement lifecycle looks like.
We are a turn key software solutions provider and typically when we engage with our customers, the idea is to help the client on each and every aspect possible or sensible. We bring that outside perspective to a client's business goals and processes and try to create a better process by integrating business with technology. The illustration above will explain what the engagement patterns look like. Click on the image to get a larger view.
Our services start typically with a business need. Something that a business owner and us together identify as critical or value enhancing to a business owner. The business need could be to create a new process because of a new business angle or to refine, improve upon an existing process (typically to remove pain elements in a business process). This might also involve innovating on a completely new angle (read this business case to see how we have helped one client do that).
Moving on, we have the business analysis and technical evaluation phase. These phases typically involve getting a detailed handle on the problem at hand. Coupling that problem with how IT can help solve the challenge is the goal here. The result of this phase is typically a set of recommendations on process and technology that are derived from the constraints of the problem. And yes, one of the major constraints as always is budget. The second being timeline. :-)
After this phase comes the nitty gritty phase of planning out the solution, creating the timeline and the execution of the solution. We typically follow onshore - offshore hybrid delivery model that results in the maximum efficiency and value to the customer. However flexibility is called for, specially in the earlier stages of the implementation to take care of situations that specifically require either on site or offsite support.
I will skip going into the nitty gritties of the development cycle but would like to mention two important aspects that go on in parallel here. These are often ignored or just taken into the sub concscious.
Knowledge repository and change management.
Building a knowledge repository is something that is overlooked in the daily grind. However, whether we want it or not, we are building up a know how. The resources assigned to the project are gathering knowledge of the project and the business in general everyday they work on the project. At InfoBeans, with help from the client, we are always building up our knowledge repository in a much more formal manner by continuously documenting, tagging and updating our gain in customer business knowhow.
Another aspect is change management. There invariably are always going to be changes in the project during the course of the project. Even when we have a solid and bound requirements document, we will always either miss something out from the requirements or things might just change based on a new discovery of the business process. We are continously trying to manage change by communication, feedback and prioritization of the requirementst that are coming in. Flexibility coupled with robustness to not break anything else is a key aspect of change management. Techrepublic has a good article on this.
In the next part of this article, we will see the other aspects of this engagement cycle. Till then, if you have any comments and questions, please do write them in.
Oct 9, 2008
Interesting question that I posted on linkedin
Read this interesting question that I has posted on linkedin.com some time ago. I reproduce it here as I want people reading this blog, mostly from small and medium business environments to see and respond to what people think about bribing. This is an issue that is core at our hearts and we want to see opinions from all angles.
Oct 8, 2008
Microsoft touchless
OK - so I think it is amazingly cool, but I have not been able to make it work with my hardware.
For the uninitiated, this is something that the geeks at microsoft have come out in the open source world after a long time. Do not remember when was the last time anything like this came out of microsoft.
Check out this super cool technology (I hope this is not a spoof and I hope that it is just me who is dumb).
I tried creating the marker using an orange ball and an actual marker, but to no avail. If someone can help me, it would be really nice. I want to see this thing in action.
Microsoft - you have started rocking - again!
Update - it works - there was a problem in the settings of the marker.
Great job MS guys.
Oct 7, 2008
InfoBeans CMS Capabilities Presentation
InfoBeans has been working with various content management tools like Drupal, SharePoint and DNN, to name a few.
Do refer us to your business associates and friends if you feel that our services can be of help to them.
We have worked with large and small companies and helped them assess, strategize and implement their content management solutions. We have a large team of specialists who work hard to create that cutting edge niche.
I am publishing our full content management practice capabilities presentation here. It is also available at slideshare.com here.
Do refer us to your business associates and friends if you feel that our services can be of help to them.
Also feel free to forward or share this capabilities presentation with them.
Oct 6, 2008
Drupal implementation case study
Drupal has been a key focus area at InfoBeans. We are doing a tremendous amount of Drupal work, specially for the publishing industry.
With some of the posts, I will try to showcase some of our work. These cases are also available on our website at www.infobeans.com and some are shared publicly via slideshare.com (we find it a very cool tool, by the way).
Here is one such implementation that we did using Drupal.
As always, your questions and comments are always welcome.
Siddharth
Oct 1, 2008
Some FAQs
Read our newly posted outsourcing FAQ. You should be able to find some common answers on the whole outsourcing conundrum, with special emphasis on offshoring to India.
Sep 30, 2008
The topsy turvy dollar
Whow! The dollar is getting us crazy these days. It was at about 39 to an Indian rupee just 2 quarters ago. Now at the time of this post, it is at 47. Where does this leave us? Some of our friends have asked us how is this affecting us? Well, it is affecting us in a big way. Every rupee change in the dollar changes our top and bottom line. The bottom line is more affected, obviously.
However, this is no windfall. We have been seeing the effects of a strong rupee. It created a huge downward pressure on our bottomline. We really took some hits back then. All that is happening today is we are getting a little bit of respite. And there is no huge cause to cheer. The real inflation rate in India is very high which negates the effect of the weakening rupee. With the official inflation figures at 12%+ for the last quarter and no let up in the near future, we are just about back to square one.
What does a small business owner do in such a scenario?
Well, we have been implementing a hedging strategy. There are pros and cons of this whole hedging thing. However, there is one very big positive that kinda outweighs all the negatives for us. That is Certainty. Certainty in the amount of money that we know we will be receiving. Yeah, sure we might lose some money if the rupee weakens further than it already is. However, we are more comfortable when we know our exact cash flows for the next quarter or two. That helps us in planning our expenses. And it helps us keep our sanity. We are no currency trading experts and have no intention to do a PhD in that. We just need to get our money safely with a certain degree of certainty and that is what we get out of hedging.
I have no hesitation in recommending this strategy to all small exporters in India (or anywhere). Hedge your foreign currency income and keep your sanity. Concentrate on your core business. That is what you want to do.
Sep 29, 2008
Check out our office photos
Here are some pictures to our office photos. We invest in our infrastructure so that our clients do not have to and our team members are proud of their workplace.
Check out this slideshow that shows some pictures of our office.
These are also available on our website at http://www.infobeans.com/Infrastructure.aspx
Sep 26, 2008
Check out our current openings
Our team members tell everyone that InfoBeans is a great place to work. We want our team to feel at home, literally. And we work hard to make them feel at home. All of us work hard to make all of us feel at home. We work hard, play harder.
Sep 23, 2008
Our redesigned website
We have launched our redesigned website. The website has been updated keeping in mind what our customers are looking for. Straight forward information on what our services are and what they can get out of it.
Check out www.infobeans.com
We hope that you can get the information that you are looking for in an efficient manner. Check out our careers page at http://www.infobeans.com/CurrentOpenings.aspx
We hope the presentation format would make it easier for our visitors to navigate the open positions.
We hope to hear from you regarding the redesign of the website. Please feel free to drop in any comments.
Sep 22, 2008
Hiring challenges in smaller companies - how to combat?
One of the key challenges that a smaller software development company faces is in hiring.
Whenever we go out there in the market, there is always a difficulty in getting new resources on board. In this post, I would like to reflect on our company's experiences in attracting talent.
The key challenge that we face at InfoBeans is that our competition when it comes to hiring is the competition with the larger name brand companies and the fact that we are in a smaller town. My analysis will keep these two factors in mind.
Company Culture
Get the company culture right. This is the first and foremost thing that the top management and pretty much the entire organization has to set right. The current team members (our employees are not employees, they are team members) are your best advertisements in the market. They are the ones who will bring in their friends, get your HR folks more referrals and tell their friend if NOT TO JOIN. Create a great atmosphere for your team and they will reciprocate. After all they would be more than happy to work with their friends and family members.
At InfoBeans, I am proud to say that our team is the first set of people we go to whenever we want to hire new resources and they respond overwhelmingly. It is an open policy at our company that we are actively looking for people that are acquiantances of our team members.
Make the organization the first place the team member wants to go in the morning. Even if that means coming to work for exercise.
Involve the team member's family
We invite our prospective team member's family to come and take a look and talk to us regarding what the future holds for the family as a whole in the organization. This makes them feel at home as well. After all, it is easier to decide when you have actually met people and seen the work space. This has produced extra ordinary results specially when a prospective team member decides between many smaller companies. After we do not have a brand value as high as the larger companies.
The Compensation Package
It cannot be less than the market. Period. In today's day and age, it has to be more than the competition - especially the larger ones you are competing against. Don't crib, it is much lower than the billing rate, and you cannot continue living to ignore it. Save money elsewhere. Splurge here.
The Benefits Package
You have to provide a benefits package. Cannot shy away from it. There are times when obviously you cannot compete with the bigger ones on an eloborate gym or a cafetaria, but you can find out middles ways where you can provide these benefits outsourced. Definitely get them on to a family health insurance plan. They will love that, specially if the prospect is married and is single. Then go search for establishments who would treat the Team Member's ID card as a priviledge card - restaurants, coffee shops, retail outlets etc. All go towards enhancing your brand image as an employer.
Maintain a strong Alumni Bond
Keep in touch with the team that has left you for greener pastures. Do not severe ties and do not keep an ego. These are the people that have worked for you and would always have a soft corner in the heart. They will probably never speak negatively about you, specially if they have worked with the organization for a longer duration. They moved on, but the relationship can prosper. At InfoBeans, we have made a concious effort to make sure that all our team, who have left are still on the Yahoo IM added somewhere.
Newspaper and other expensive ads will take you nowhere
They are a criminal waste of money if considered purely from an HR point of view and from a marketing viewpoint, an expensive branding exercise.
Folks this is the bottomline -
You have to start thinking like a big employer but implementing all those things within your constraints.
Innovation in outsourcing and offshoring
A contact of mine, Rasmus Lema sent me a few questions regarding innovation. I would like to reproduce my answers here.
Some of his work can be see here and here.
Here are the questions
- When does innovation happen in offshore outsourcing relationships? And when doesn’t it?
- What are the main differences between clients that have that vision of allowing to innovate and those who do not?
- Has this increased or decreased over the last 8 years?
- What types of innovation comes out of comfortable client-vendor relationships?
Continue reading for the answers. Comments are appreciated.
When does innovation happen in offshore outsourcing relationships? And when doesn't it?
Off the bat, we need to understand that innovation by nature is a risky proposition. Sometimes it works, most times it does not.
Innovation happens when there is hunger for innovation on both sides of the relationship. This is true even in a normal corporate environment - your team (read your boss) and you need to be thinking on the lines of innovation. Similarly in an offshoring/outsourcing environment.
In an offshoring/outsourcing environment, there are some additional factors that come into play. First is the culture clash. If we talk about Indian offshoring, there is a tendency amongst Indian companies to just follow the leader (read client). They are afraid of proposing new ideas - one of the reasons of which is the fact that sometimes the vendor construes new ideas as a way to increase billing. If a vendor were to propose a new idea/process/implementation strategy, it is many a times construed as an attempt to increase revenues for the vendor.
Communication is the other factor that affects innovation. I believe that for innovation to succeed, clear, honest, transparent communication is critical. The teams on both sides need to have that understanding and tacit trust that both teams have the greater good in mind when doing this.
If there is a breakdown in understanding on any of the above two fundamental points, innovation ceases to happen and rather the engagement starts becoming counterproductive for both.
Another related issue is the ownership of the resulting IP that is generated. This however is something that can be taken care of early on in the game when the contracts are negotiated. I have seen however, that when the entire IP is owned by the client, and nothing accrues to the vendor, there is little incentive for the vendor to innovate drastically.
What are the main differences between clients that have that vision of allowing to innovate and those who do not?
Outsourcing rarely happens in areas where the client wants to innovate in a big way. If they have a big new idea, they would probably not outsource it. They would want to do it themselves for reasons of secrecy and IP protection amongst others.
Clients that foster innovation are typically those that do not have an IT department of their own and do not have a huge inclination to create such a department . To put it bluntly they do not have great knowledge or inclination towards of the IT side of things - the project itself, from a technology point of view and the underlying processes. They of course understand their business. This allows the vendor team to openly initiate innovation and get feedback from the client.
Clients that allow innovation tend to have at least one business analyst dedicated full time to the project. This is not typically seen in many outsourcing projects. Business analysts are considered a cost burden. If there is a good business analyst on board, both sides can bounce ideas off the BA and make way for more close understanding of the client's business for the vendor.
Has this increased or decreased over the last 8 years?
Innovation has mostly increased in the last 8 years. There has been better understanding of the whole outsourcing/offshoring paradigms and the inherent risks and rewards. Relationships have matured. Both sides have understood that they will have to innovate within the outsourcing/offshoring framework as that is a mandatory item on the agenda moving forward.
Vendors have also realized the culture of companies across the world and the culture in the IT industry in India (particularly) has changed from being one of "follow the leader" to "let us work together". The fear of outsourcing has died down on both ends. They realize that they have to make outsourcing successful.
Some of things that I really feel should happen more in the client vendor relationship is the presence of more people from the vendor at the client's site. There is a huge gap in understanding of the client's nature of business and processes and many small and large efficiencies can come out if there is constant interaction the old fashioned way between at least some members of both sides.
What types of innovation comes out of comfortable client-vendor relationships?
I would tend to think that some really good innovations can come out of comfortable client vendor relationships. Most of the innovation however happens in the process side of things. Many times none of this is documented or noticed as innovation and gets lost with the team and transition.
I have seen innovation coming out in the work flow of applications. I cannot cite any examples because of confidentiality but there was a pressing need to increase speed in data entry and a terrific new way of data entry was devised by the vendor (AJAX based - long before the term AJAX was coined). Again - IP issues did not allow the innovation to go beyond the boundary of that project. No one is to be blamed here. The vendor was not allowed to use the technology while the client owned it and did not want to pursue the technology.
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